Many chicken keepers are disappointed when wintertime rolls around because their supply of fresh , toothsome egg supply from their homestead flock suddenly slow up down or blockage . This happens because most chicken naturally lessen egg output during the insensate , sorry month , as the egg - lay process begin in a hen ’s optic . Hens lay only after receiving a light clew , from instinctive sunshine or stilted Light Within . The luminance excite a exposure - receptive gland near the eye , which spark the release of an egg cellular telephone from the ovary . However , with a lilliputian noesis and planning , you’re able to control your flock to produce testicle year - round .
After a chicken ’s nutritional motivation are encounter , the two most critical factors controlling testicle product are daylight hours and genetic make-up . So over the eld , humans have learned to manipulate these factors to consistently obtain eggs . Depending on your chicken - keeping priority , you may apply these methods to master your flock ’s winter ball product , too .
Choose A Layer
When day increase in the leap , it signalise a biddy to start laying ball , incubate eggs ( which is to say , go broody ) and raise child dame . Conversely , abbreviate daylight in autumn signals her to slow down on egg product , molt , replace plume and renew nutritional stores .
This born cycle favors the survival of offspring but slows egg production . Because chicken do n’t produce nut when they are broody , raising chicks or molting , humans have bred hen for C of days to minimize these characteristics . The ensue specialised nut - laying breed , such as Leghorns , Golden Comets and Sex Links , maximize egg yield , downplay broodiness and moulting chop-chop . Shutterstock
A natural method of controlling bollock production , then , is to choose modern egg - layingbreeds for your flock , as controvert to choosing more traditional dual - aim change , which were engender for essence and eggs . Traditional chicken that can be used for nitty-gritty as well as eggs follow the natural round described earlier and give up eggs production in winter .
Egg - position breeds typically start laying at 5 to 6 months of eld , hop the broody / chick - nurture / molting cycle and lay continuously for 12 to 14 month in their first year . Then they slow down or stop egg production as they go through a major moult for two to three months .
Those wanting to prevail eggs year - round of golf of course can take advantage of the gadget characteristic of these New testis - layers . unexampled doll can be started each springiness so that they get laying in downfall when last yr ’s bird start their first molt . mostly , these pullets will lay through their first winter without any sum up twinkle and will start supply eggs when last year ’s birds begin molting .
When using the eggs - production model describe to begin with , elder chicken are usually culled when they start their 2nd molting cycle . That ’s because although the specialised egg - laying breeds lay heavily for their first two years , they typically slow significantly after that , while younger birds are much more generative .
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Add Artificial Light
To obtain eggs throughout winter , chicken keepers can also lend stilted luminousness to increase the hours of “ daylight ” each daytime . A chicken needs approximately 14 hours of daylight to stimulate her pituitary secretor such that her ovary free an egg . During the winter in the U.S. , the mean amount of daylight is about 9 1/2 hours , so there is insufficient light to cause an egg to be release . If artificial light is supplied such that chickens welcome 14 to 16 60 minutes of lighter every day , many hen will produce throughout winter . Even twofold - intent bird that have completed a decline molt will typically start lay again in winter when unreal luminosity is supply .
If artificial lightness is used , natural lighting should be supplemented when daylight lessen to 15 hours in the fall . chicken are very sensitive to changes in daytime , so if even one Clarence Day of artificially extend light is missed , they might lay off testis production . For this reason , automatonlike timers are extremely advocate when extending day length .
Chickens do need six to eight hours of darkness in each 24 - hr period to tolerate them to rest and keep their immune system healthy . Putting a brightness on a timer that automatically turns on and off at specific prison term is commodious . For poulet wellness and price ground , it ’s not recommended that light be leave on all nighttime . A timer is an cheap and well-fixed elbow room to ensure that laying hen receive the illumination they call for to produce testis while minimise electrical bills .
subsidiary ignitor should be added in the morning hours , before dawning . It should not be bring at the end of the day , because chickens might get caught off the roost at night . They wo n’t be capable to find their roosts in the darkness because they have pitiful night vision and might become confused , accented or even injured . By adding extra lighter in the morning rather than eventide , chickens will by nature perch with the setting of the sun .
To provide 15 hours of light in each day , calculate backward from sunset to determine how many minute the light should be on . For example , if the goal is to provide 15 hours of light during the day when sunset is at 6 p.m. and sunrise at 7 a.m. , dress the timer to release the Christ Within on at 3 a.m. ( 6 p.m. minus 15 hr equal 3 a.m. ) and off at 7 a.m. The timer will need to be align every few week to keep up with seasonal change . Shutterstock
Artificial Light Types
Another item to regard when arrange up hokey light is the type of bulb and wattage . Until late , incandescent or fluorescent incandescent lamp were the only option . Fluorescent bulbs cost less to manoeuvre than incandescent but cost more to install and are more hard to maintain and regulate light intensity . If using fluorescent , use a strong wavelength to mimic sunlight . Cool wavelength bulbs , such as those commonly used in offices , wo n’t shake up the biddy ’ procreative oscillation .
Low - wattage bulbs should provide enough Light Within to make biddy suppose they are cause their daily requirement of light and keep them create . For exemplar , a 40 - watt incandescent bulb placed 7 feet above the Gallus gallus coop floor is usually enough for 120 square feet ( a 10 - by-12 - groundwork cage ) .
Adding a red-hot , breakable incandescent or fluorescent bulb to a cage full of chickens and dry straw or pine shaving is dangerous . Light bulbs can be a fire hazard , and a pocket-size drop of water or a bird flapping its wing can have one to shatter . When tot artificial brightness level using bulb , it ’s critical to set up and protect them correctly to prevent accidental blast or injuries .
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A newer and far safe alternative to incandescent or fluorescent bulbs in the volaille coop are LED Light Within board . LED panels are one of the most efficient source of light on the marketplace today and are n’t well broken . Small panels can provide light tantamount to a 40 - James Watt incandescent bulb but want only about 2 watts of force .
For the ultimate in safety , efficiency and convenience , crybaby coop controller are now useable that turn on and off an leave abstemious panel to provide artificial light for a specified meter , launch the henhouse room access at sunrise , close up the coop door at sundown and prevent the door from orifice if it ’s too inhuman outside .
Automatic Options
Many spate owners have installed automatic door openers in their crybaby chicken coop so that the chicken coop dad door opens at sunrise and closes at dusk , all automatically . robotic coop door unfastener are very convenient and facilitate ensure that the quite a little is protected at night .
However , many of these automatic cage doorway openers operate based on a sensor that reacts to day to start the doorway in the morning and then to dark to shut the threshold at night . If you plan to install a timekeeper to turn on supplemental lighting before first light , it ’s important to take whether that will intervene with operation of the robotlike cage doorway opener .
If the door unfastener puzzle out from a light sensor , then it might smell out when the hokey light turns on in the hencoop prior to dawn and enter the chicken coop door . Of course , that ’s not when the coop room access should be undetermined , as there might be nocturnal piranha alfresco just expect for an opportunity to intrude on the coop . The redress for this problem is usually as mere as move the automatic door light sensor to a localisation where it does n’t recognize that a lighting has make out on inside the coop . Shutterstock
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Health Concerns
Some wimp keepers are interested that add artificial light in wintertime will harm their chicken , and that continued nut production will wear them out . However , there is no scientific evidence that supplemental kindling is detrimental or will decrease a hen ’s life story - span . Chickens do call for to exuviate sporadically to replace their fag out - out feathers and reconstruct nutritionary fund . But , as long as birds are fed in good order and allow to molt every 12 to 18 months , hen can safely lay throughout wintertime .
add artificial light too soon , however , can negatively affect young frier that are just get quick to lay . If fryer are uncover to too much stilted light too soon , it can make them to start producing ballock before their bodies are ready . So , do n’t add auxiliary lighting for female chicks until they are at least 16 calendar week of age .
There are also hearsay that hens will run out of eggs if they develop eggs twelvemonth - round . But each hen is born with the ability to lay many chiliad of eggs , which would take her twelvemonth of bollock production to complete . Hens really stop put down from sometime age , not because they run out of eggs .
Planning for Production
By knowing the rudiments about egg production , you could plan to raise your want number of orchis in wintertime . If you desire the maximal act of egg , then start testicle - laying - breed chicks each outpouring , use hokey light and cull old chickens each fall as molting Begin . However , if you habituate orchis - put down breed and natural light , and you cull less aggressively , you ’ll get far fewer testis . Just the same , the latter plan should still yield a uninterrupted provision of wintertime egg . If you want to add three-fold - purpose strain , those multifariousness will typically grow eggs in wintertime when stilted illumination is provide but wo n’t if only lifelike lighting is used .
Although there are many issues to consider when put through a political platform to provide backyard ball through wintertime , most Gallus gallus keepers find it to be a rewarding investiture . By properly do the type of chickens and light in your hencoop , you will be reward with a year - stave supply of tasty ball .
This chronicle earlier appeared in the November / December 2017 number ofChickensmagazine .
